What makes a plant “Indigenous?” Understanding plant provenance and the site where your plants originate from

Indigenous nurseries around Melbourne cultivate seeds and cuttings collected from wild populations within their local area. They will have multiple wild communities they collect from, and when you order plants you will be able to find out which community your plants have originated from.

What this means that if you want to, you can use tube stock that originates from the collection points closest to your garden.  An argument could be that this would be the most “Indigenous” version of that plant for your garden. The further away the seed collection point becomes, the more the plant becomes an “Australian native” cultivar version of it.

For instance, if you bought Themeda Triandra (kangaroo grass) from a Bendigo  nursery and planted it in Mt Waverley it would be an Australian native cultivar of the plant, rather than purely Indigenous plant. Even though the genetic makeup would be essentially the same. And if you bought the same plant species, but this time from a regular nursery as a 6in pot, then you’d probably have an Australian native cultivar. The cultivars have been selectively bred for desired qualities.  To again use Themeda as an example, when purchased as a cultivar the seed linage could be as far away as Africa… where Themeda also occurs naturally.       

So Indigenous planting it is all about provenance. And this is how you can determine if the plant you have is either an Indigenous plant or an Australian native plant… or somewhere in the middle….Just ask yourself where does it originate from and where are you going to plant it?

Using the Subtle differences within plant species to your advantage

When I plant gardens, I am constantly finding variations in the local indigenous plants I use. Even when  bought from my two closest Indigenous nurseries! Variations in foliage size, shape and color are common to observe within a plant species. As I am getting to know these differences, I am considering them during design and starting to specify provenance. There is no reason why you couldn’t do the same!

Another way you could utilize these subtle provenance differences would be to align your garden’s characteristics with those of the collection colony. To do this, you would buy a small number of individuals from each local provenance, plant them and observe which ones work best in your environment. A year later you would know which provenance suits your site.

Collecting seeds and cuttings

You should collect seed and cuttings from the Indigenous plants in your home garden and spread them throughout your garden. This is a great way to save money, top up your garden and have a lot of fun better understanding your plants. The best thing is that these plants are well adapted to your garden’s conditions.

The easiest way to do this is to pick ripe berries or seeds and tuck them gently into the top soil. In the case of seed pods I will just shake them out in the areas and hope one might grow. Many woody indigenous plants can be grown from cuttings taken from plants growing rapidly when the weather is mild.

Remnant vegetation and seed collection

Indigenous nurseries are licensed to collect seed from wild plant populations and do so with minimal interference to the surrounding environment. As an individual, you should never collect your own seed or cuttings from the bush and it is illegal to do so.

Happy gardening!